Jamia VC urges students to join armed forces

New Delhi, April 20: A batch of students from Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI), who have returned from a tour of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), were on Thursday exhorted by Vice Chancellor Talat Ahmad to join the Indian armed forces.

“I hope you have been able to observe the life in the army closely and would now want to join it to serve the nation,” Ahmad was quoted as saying to the group of 28 students — 14 boys and 14 girls.

The students come from different undergraduate courses from the university and had started their tour from April 4, said a JMI release.

The tour was organised at the initiative of the chiefs of all three armed forces to “provide a platform to students to witness the work of the Indian Army and its role in peace and development in J&K”.

Major Mahendra Singh of the 19th Artillery Brigade, who accompanied the students, praised the group as “disciplined” and “enthusiastic”.

“Being ambassadors of Jamia, we wanted them to interact with the Army, NGOs and the awaam of Kashmir. We got an overwhelming response from all of them,” he said in the statement.

During their tour, the students got a chance to meet state Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and several senior armed forces officials. They stayed at civil army camps throughout their tour.